Improvement in writing-machines



2 SheetsSheet l.

O. THURBER. MECHANICAL GHIROGRAPHER.

No. 4,271. Patented Nov. 18, 1845.

2 Sh eets-Sheet 2. GLTHURBER. MECHANICAL GHIROGRAPHBR.

No. 4,271. Patented Nov. 1.8, 1845.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES THURBER, on NORWICH, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN WRITING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 4,271, dated November 1 8, 18-15.

' useful machine, called the Mechanical Ohirographer, for writing or'forming any kind of figures or characters on paper, &c., and making copies thereof at the same operation; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and enact description of the principle or character thereof and of the manner of constructing and using the-same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,-

which make part of this specification, in

whichl Figure 1 is a perspective representation of a the machine simply adapted to the formation of three letters or characters, as from these the manner of adding the other letters will be obvious. Fig. 2 is a side elevation; Fig." 3, 'a back elevation, and Fig. at a transverse vertical section taken at the line X X of Fig. 3.

The parts which are not visible in these figures will be represented separately and re- I ferred to in their appropriate places.

Like parts are indicated in all the figures by the same letters; Many attempts have been made to contrive an apparatus to form letters or other charcters 1 in succession to enable persons to write who do not possess the faculty of governing a pen, and also to enable personswhile writing to take a duplicate or duplicates; but, so far as i I am informed, these have proved inefficient in practice. The pantograph, it is true, has been used for writing duplicates, and types have been so arranged as by a given movement of mechanism to impress upon paper any required character; but the former has always been considered too unwieldy to be governed by the fingersof a writer, and the latter attended with too much trouble-and difiiculty. These objections, it is believed,

have been overcomeand the desired ends attained by this invention, the principle or character of which, and what distinguishes it from all other things before'known, consists in communicating to a penor pencil holder the motions necessary to delineate any andallletters or other characters by motions at rightiangles to each-other, obtained by sets of cams, eachset being so formed-as to combine. th e.-right-- angle movements, and thus generate-thegyer- .In the accompanyingdrawings, A is a frame properly adapted to the reception of all the mechanism. The pen-orpencil holder-a is on a lever, b, jointed to a vertically-slidingframe, B,w ithin a horizontally-sliding frame, C,w0rking on the standing frame D. These two frames, sliding at right angles to each other, present the means of communicating to the pen or pencil-a vertical or horizontal movement, or any compound of them, by which any diagonal or curved line can be generated, while by its jointed connection with the frame thepen or pencil can be pressed against the paper by a smallspring, c. The sliding frame B is kept up by the tension of a helical spring, d, attached to it and to the horizontally-sliding frame 0, and this latter is in like manner drawn to the left by the tension of anotherhelical spring, 6, attached'to it and to the,

main frame of. the machine.-

For the purpose of communicating the downward movements to the. vertically sliding frame B, an arm, f, projects from it and ex- .tendst'o and under a'horiz'ontal bar,- g, attached totwo arms thatjturn onstud-pins on the standards h h, the bang resting on aroller, f, on the endof the arm f, so that the frames may move'end'wise freely while the bar 9 rests on the roller. This bar 9 is provided with stndsrt', one'for each set of camfis or for each character the machine. is intended .tomake, the upper edge-being properly formed torreceive theaction of the cams, to .be presently described.

. The horizontally-sliding frame Otis permanently connected with a sliding bar, j, by means of a brace-bank, and this slidingbar is providedwith-a .set of, studs, '1, havingone .side iproperl y formed to be acted upon by face cams to communicate the horizontal movements. The series o'ficamsare mountedona horizontal shaft, E, sustainedonthe standards "F F. Allfthecams-on each eet are attached-- ,to, :ands-move tOg6th1"-:Q [l the shaft between Zcdllarsmt-meaich:setbeing provided with a ratchet-wheel, n, and a spring-hand, a, on a drum wheel, 0, around which a cord, is wound and carried to a lever, g, by the depression of which the. cams are carried around one entire revolution, and there retained by the friction of a spring, 1-, while the drum and lever are drawn back by a volute spring within the drum, as represented in'section at Fig.. 5. There must of course be one set of cams and a corresponding ratchet, drum, and lever for each character intended to be formed, and in the example given in the drawings there are but three sets represented, as this number is deemed sufficient to enable any one skilled in the arts to increase the number at pleasure by simply changing the form of the cams.

The cams-s s s are fo rcommunicating the vertical motion to the slidihg frame B by acting on the studs t ii i, the cam-forms being on the periphery, and t t t are those for communicating the horizontal movements by acting on the studs 1 Z, the cam-forms in these being on the face. The shape of the first set-,8 and t, to form the Roman capital B, are projected in section 5,the first motion of the pen being ver- 7 tical to form the bar. of the letter, and there- 7 the cam s only,*and then the being compounds of both motions,are given by the two cams s and t acting atthe sam'e time. The second set, a t, for the formation of the Roman capital W, is projec'ted at section 6, and thisletter being formed of four diagonals, the four strokes of the pen are produced by compounds of the two motions; and the third, for the formation of the Roman capital l, which requires only a vertical stroke, consists of'a singlevolute cams s.

For the purpose of removing the pen or pencil from the paper at the end of each letter,there' is a frame, G, turning on stud-pins at u it, with a bar, '0, in front of the pen-holder, and'another bar, w, at the back, provided with fore given by semicircles, which,

studs a; a; :0, similar to those on the bars of the sliding frames,which are borne against. the peripheries of cam-wheels y y y, attached to and moving with each'set of cams s and 't, by springs z 2, so that at theend of every. revolution of each setof cams these studs fall into recessesin the peripheries of the wheels yy y,by which the pen or pencil is drawn back to relieve the point thereof from the surface of the paper while it is moved forward preparatory to the commencement of another letter; but when the frame is moved forward by the rotation of either of the sets of cams the pen-holder is liberated and'pressed against the surface of the paper by the spring a.

The sheet of paper or other substance to be written upon is attached to a frame,a", which slides vertically in a frame, b, that runs horizo 11y between two wings, c 0, attached to standa s d d. The back of the frame I) is provided vfithg. rack, e, the teeth of which receive the threadstpf an endless screw, on the shaft of a cog-wheel, g, which receives its motion from another cog-wheel, h that turns freely on a stud-pin, i, and is provided with a lever or treadle s is setin a on a vertical bar,

frame to which the paper isattached. As the 1 ratchet-wheel,k 78,011 each side, the one, It, to

receive a pawl,Z,to prevent the cog-wheel from moving back,and the other, k for the hand m, jointed to a drum, at, to act upon, so that by the turningof the drum n by means of alever. s, and cord 1), coiled around it, a horizontal motion is communicated through the whole train to thepaper on the descent of the lever, butjnot on its ascent, this being prevented by the pawl 1 The leverIsis in the usual form of a treadle, extends entirely across the machine andunder the series of levers q q q, and has an arm, q q, at each end (only one of which is visible in thedrawings) that turn on back of the frame, so that the motion'by eitherof the levers q, and the lever or treadle s is further provided with a set-screw, r r r, foreach lever q to actupon, so that thespaces between stud-pins at the each letter can be regulated at pleasure, some requiring the paper to be moved more than others in proportion'to their width. The shaft of the endless screw f is hung in a shipper-lever, 0, for the purpose of throwing the screw out of gear t0,permit the paperto back at the end of each-line, and in this back movement the paper is moved up the width of one line by means of the lever t,provided with a spring-catch,u,that takes into ratchet-teeth 'v", on the back of the paper moves forward the lever descends and the catch falls in below onetooth, and .Whenit is moved back the end of the lever runs up an inclined plane, w, attached to the framewhich carries up the paper.

By reference to the drawings it will be seen that the slides work on rollers for the purpose of reducing friction; but these may be dispensed with and theslides constructed and arranged in any manner best suited to the judg ment of the constructer.

Various modes of applying the principle of this invention have been conteniplated-such, j for instance, as hanging each set of cams on a separate axle instead of one common axle. The face-cams for givingthe horizontal movements may be dispensedwith, and a cam on the pe riphery substituted therefor by inter'posing a lever arrangement to change the vertical into a horizontal movementan arrangement well-known to machinists, and which therefore needs not to be represented; employing a rack on each lever q, the teeth of which take the drum and cord described above; or a seg ment-rack may be attached to an elbow-lever or to the end of the lever,-to take into the teeth of the cog-wheels that actuate the sets of cams; or, instead of' having the cams separate from 'the levers and turning on separate centers, the

'cams may be attached to the end of the lever and so arranged as to act on the slidingframcsiu manner substantially similar to the cams above be moved into cogs on a cog-wheel, to be substituted ibr described, except that in this case the cams will be projected on a segment instead of an 1 entire circle. Theframethatcarries the paper may be carried by a pinion instead of an endless screw, or by a toothed belt. For the sliding frames levers may be substituted to form the connection between the cams and the penholders to give the requisite movements to the pen; but in this case itwill be necessary to reverse the form of the camaasthe motions will necessarily be reversed. In short, all these a movements may be effected by any of the known mechanical equivalents or such as may be hereafter invented,..as the substitution of these equivalents one for another are matters well known to those skilled in the mechanic arts, and the selection of any or either of them must be governed by the judgment of the constructer. The principle and the mode of application, as it has been essayed, being fully described above,. anyskillful machinist will have no ditficulty in substituting any of the equivalents for the movements described. a

It will be obvious that by lengthening out the machine to carry two, three, or more pens and a corresponding number of sheets of paper any desired number of copies may be made at one and the same operation without changing the parts of the machine which produce the movements.

I Having pointed out the principle of my inr.

vention'and the manner-of constructing and using the same, and indicated somc'o'f thevariations in construction which may be made without changing the principle or character pencil by means of cams acting on frames, so

that the vertical and horizontal strokes can be givenby separatemovements and the oblique and curved strokes by the combined action of thetwo, substantially as herein described.

2. Giving to the sheet of paper or other substance to be written upon a horizontal movement for spacing off the letters and a vertical movement for the lines, in combination with the movements of. the pen or pencil, substantially'as-herein described. l 7

CHARLES THURBER.

Witnesses:

DAVID YOUNG, Gus. M. KELLER 

